Worldwide Beekeeping

Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: rober on September 27, 2022, 03:56:08 pm

Title: 18% honey
Post by: rober on September 27, 2022, 03:56:08 pm
i had a laying worker hive that had 6 full frames of honey. i  gave the frames to a friend to extract & keep. he called me today & said he was going to feed the honey to the bees cuz it's reading 18% moisture & he's afraid it will ferment. i told him he was wasting the honey. i've kept 19% & 20% without any problems. opinions? if i'd known he'd do that i'd have let my bees rob them out.
Title: Re: 18% honey
Post by: The15thMember on September 27, 2022, 04:55:40 pm
As humid as my climate is, for most of my honeys I'm lucky to be down to 18%.  Anything around 20% or higher I'd be a little concerned about, but 18% is great.  The lowest I've ever seen is 17.5%. 
Title: Re: 18% honey
Post by: Jen on September 27, 2022, 04:59:58 pm
Rober, if you knew that he was going to do that, I would have paid the shipping to give it to me. Darn ~ you do a good turn and it doesn't turn the way you want  :cry:
Title: Re: 18% honey
Post by: Bakersdozen on September 28, 2022, 08:06:09 am
18% is still acceptable.  Some other options would have been placing those frames in a room with a dehumidifier for a couple of days before extracting or freezing those frames then putting them in the colonies in preparation for winter.
Title: Re: 18% honey
Post by: iddee on September 28, 2022, 08:45:04 am
18.6 is said to be the breaking point. Anything below that is fine.
Title: Re: 18% honey
Post by: Jen on September 29, 2022, 01:26:09 pm
Iddee, do you mean that 18.6 is acceptable for marketing the honey?
Title: Re: 18% honey
Post by: iddee on September 29, 2022, 04:28:33 pm
You can market at 25 to make mead or feed bees. 18.6 or below to prevent fermenting.